206 NOTES ON THE NATURAL HISTORY 
full on them, was a glorious string of thirty wild Swans. They 
were flying, as usual, in single file, and in the form of a long- 
shanked fish-hook with the shank end foremost, and calling 
to each other as they flew towards the Dee. It was a sight 
never to be forgotten. A. O. 
NoTES ON STARLINGS, &C. 
Returning from a walk to Eccleston on the 13th November, 
1881, at 4 p.m., I observed two enormous flocks of Starlings 
flying over from the direction of the Dee Estuary and shaping 
their course towards their roosting place, which I afterwards 
learned to be Cotton Gorse. By counting several detached 
parties I estimated there would be at least zo0o0 Starlings in 
each flock. Although they flew higher than the tall trees the 
sound of their wings made a very loud rushing noise like a 
brisk wind blowing through trees in leaf, and they also cast 
quite a dark shadow on the earth as they passed along. I have 
frequently been told that they roost in very large numbers in 
the Huntington Woods, but their favourite haunt is apparently 
“ Cotton Gorse,’’ near the Gowy, Where can they have been 
feeding ? and what on ? were questions I have not been able to 
solve, and should be glad to have information on. One pair has 
nested in the ivy here (Eaton Road) for the past three seasons, 
and we have been greatly interested in their habits and beauty. 
They have always reared some young which have flown, 
but there has each season been considerable mortality among 
the young, dead callow young ones of various ages being often 
cast from the nest to the ground in such a state as to suggest 
they had died from some disease in the nest, and then thrown 
out by the parent birds. Their boldness and usefulness also, 
during the nesting season, are very striking. A young cat we 
had would often climb an apple tree about eight yards from the 
nest and would immediately be attacked by one or both of the 
old birds who would flit from tip to tip of the branches just 
out of the cat’s reach and utter all the while the loudest cries 
I ever heard them make, until at last puss would become 
so bewildered she would cry out and get away as fast as she 
could, and the Starlings would continue the attack as long as 
she remained in sight. But if Starlings are useful in des- 
troying grubs when they have young, they take a pretty liberal 
toll for doing so when the fruit is ripe. When cherries are ripe 
they seem to be converted for the while into eating machines, 
and go on, if undisturbed, eating all day long; amy succulent 
fruit seems to suit their taste. I have two Yews and two 
Mountain Ashes in my garden. Each year I have noticed that 
the Starlings c/ear the fruit off both kinds of trees within two 
or three days at the most after they have found it is ripe and 
fit to eat. But for all their frugivorous habits I think they are 
most useful birds and most interesting in habits. ‘Their 
chatter and ventriloquism when sunning themselves near the 
window ona bright spring morning is as entertaining as their 
plumage is beautiful. 
